The upcoming Little Baby Bum toy line from Commonwealth Toys & Novelty, based on the hit YouTube series, is set to make history in the pre-school sector, according to Surge Licensing president Mark Freedman.

The Little Baby Bum YouTube show, aimed at children aged six months to three years, has over five million subscribers and has over six billion views; stats that its licensing agent, Surge Licensing, and master toy partner, Commonwealth Toys & Novelty, believe will make it an icon in the toy sector.

“I’m on YouTube all the time and I saw Little Baby Bum a year and a half ago,” said Surge Licensing president Mark Freedman.

“I was struck by the animation; it was a great pre-school series. I then scrolled down to see the number of views and I said to myself: ‘Really? Two billion views.’ It was right, two billion views; everyone was watching this. It’s been viewed 6.3 billion times since it started.”

Alec Kessler, executive vice president at Commonwealth Toys & Novelty, who also brought Angry Birds to shelves via toys, added: “Little Baby Bum will be a big player in the toy space. It has over six billion views and all those people that are watching this are waiting for toys to come out.

Freedman is often cited as ‘the fifth Turtle’, after he discovered the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book in the Eighties and turned it into a hit brand. He thinks Little Baby Bum can make the same waves in toys.Freedman said: “I feel we’re about to make history.

“It’s a brand that will meet with tremendous success. When I discovered Little Baby Bum, I felt the same as when I discovered the Turtles.

“YouTube has been a game changer for millennials and young parents. Instead of watching TV, those eyeballs have migrated to smartphones they are consuming their news and entertainment through digital platforms. The brand’s jump into consumer products is because viewers are demanding it.”

Commonwealth’s Kessler agrees, claiming that more digital properties will start to become the major players in the toy space.

“YouTube is the next generation of TV,” Kessler told ToyNews.

“There will be more physical product based on properties from digital platforms like YouTube and Netflix. We continuously look in the digital space, and not just at the properties that everyone has heard of.”

Here at ToyNews, we like connecting people and while the conversation around the rise of YouTube influencers appears to be hot topic this month, Laura Edwards, commercial director at the talent management firm, Viral Talent talks us through the importance of nurturing the new online stars of today.